SALINA, Kan. (KSNW) – What was once a mass-market music medium is now making its comeback, topping its competition.

The Recording Industry Association of America projects records will top CD sales for the first time, which one Salina business owner credits to the musical wonders that are vinyl records, not CDs.

“In 1984 the CD came out and I started collecting records at the same time,” said Chad Kassem, owner of Quality Record Pressings. “The whole world was getting out of vinyl and everybody going towards CD, but I kept collecting vinyl and I went in the opposite direction than the rest of the world.”

Kassem’s company has been going strong for more than three decades. He says despite the digital era, his company hasn’t seen any signs of business slowing down.

“The younger people are rediscovering album covers and they are liking to collect, It’s kind of trendy and a cool thing,” said Kassem. “It’s like new to them, it’s like wow, this is cool, the records are cool.”

He says he believes this move and a piqued curiosity in vinyl is partly because of a changing culture. Music lovers are noticing the distinct sound records give that can’t be replicated.

It’s preserving a moment in time, giving vinyl records a fighting chance.

“I like the sound of vinyl, I trusted my ears,” said Kassem. “I knew that vinyl would never die. It sounds better than CDs. I knew vinyl would never die, but I didn’t see CDs dying like they did.”

Kassem says young people of all ages are buying records over CDs, even his own grandchildren.

“Everybody was kind of fooled and it took them a long time to realize there was more soul and more emotion in listening to records,” said Kassem.

Since the company started, it has rapidly grown from just the owner, to now a plant, warehouse, and office space. Kassem employs over 100 people.

He says vinyl will always have a place in the world and he’s not concerned this trend will end.

“We also offered CDs in a higher quality CD called SA CD, but, yeah, they are going down and vinyl just keeps going up,” said Kassem.

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